"Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates/You got a brand new key/I think that we should get together and try them out you see..." With her chart-topping 1971 hit "Brand New Key," Melanie Safka-Schekeryk built on the success of previous hits like the Woodstock-inspired anthem "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" and her cover of The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday." But "Brand New Key" also unfairly tagged the singer-songwriter as a novelty artist, a notion she was quick to dispose with the
Release Round-Up: Week of October 30
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Packed with over 30 titles including highly-anticipated reissues, a slew of box sets, collections and more, it just may be the mightiest of the year! The Velvet Underground, Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Velvet Underground's 1970 album - and Lou Reed's swansong with the band - gets the deluxe expanded treatment from Rhino in this new box set featuring the original stereo and mono
Roger McGuinn and Pete Seeger, Tony Orlando, Doc Watson Join Bottom Line Archive Series
The Bottom Line Archive Series, preserving performances from the late, renowned New York club, will roll out a new trio of releases on October 30. Joining previous entries from artists including The Brecker Brothers, Harry Chapin and Janis Ian are new titles from Tony Orlando, Doc Watson, and the duo of Pete Seeger and Roger McGuinn. One 1994 evening at The Bottom Line, famed disk jockey Vin Scelsa joined folk legend Pete Seeger and The Byrds' Roger McGuinn for one-of-a-kind exchange of
Reflections: The Greatest Songs of Rod McKuen
Varese Vintage celebrates the life and singular career of Rod McKuen with this new collection. Reflections brings together 24 of the late songwriter's own interpretations of his most famous compositions including "If You Go Away," "Seasons in the Sun," "Love's Been Good to Me," "A Man Alone" and many more. TSD's own Joe Marchese has written the liner notes for this new overview of McKuen's storied legacy in song.
Hear The Bang: Lost Country-Rock Classic By Late Singer-Songwriter Denny Lile Is Rediscovered
Singer-songwriter Denny Lile was only 21 years old when a newspaper headline proclaimed "Maybe THIS time it's Denny Lile's turn," but he was already a veteran of the music business and its vagaries. A couple of singles came and went with his band Elysian Field on Imperial Records; the same fate befell Soul, Inc. and its handful of singles on the Laurie label. At the time of that headline, Lile was striking out with his own group Otis for the single release of "Hear the Bang." A self-titled
Release Round-Up: Week of September 18
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up including a couple of spectacular new box sets, one acclaimed soundtrack, numerous reissues and anthologies, and the return of a few beloved artists! a-ha, Hunting High and Low: 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The 1985 debut from a-ha gets super-sized with Rhino's upcoming 4-CD/1-DVD edition. Disc One has the original, remastered album, while Disc Two boasts 25 demos, Disc Three has 15
Release Round-Up: Week of September 11
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Second Disc Records is going back to the beach with Ricci Martin, but that's far from all this week! We're also taking off with ELO, singing street-corner symphonies with The Four Seasons, and much more! Plus: new titles from classic artists! Ricci Martin, Beached: Expanded Edition (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) What if key members of The Beach Boys, Chicago, America, and Wings had teamed up to create one of the greatest
Strangers Again
Judy Collins returns for a new set of ballads performed as duets with artists including Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Glen Hansard and Don McLean! 1. Strangers Again feat. Ari Hest 2. Miracle River feat. Michael McDonald 3. Belfast To Boston feat. Marc Cohn 4. When I Go feat. Willie Nelson 5. Make Our Garden Grow feat. Jeff Bridges 6. Feels Like Home feat. Jackson Browne 7. From Grace feat. Thomas Dybdahl 8. Hallelujah feat. Bhi Bhiman 9. Someday Soon
Greasepaint Smile
Numero Group excavates a never-before-released 1969 album from singer-songwriter Elyse Weinberg. The label describes the album's sound: "Weinberg's finger-picked acoustic is layered over distant drumming, while her gravel-pit voice evokes life, love, and mortality." Neil Young, J.D. Souther, Nils Lofgren and Kenny Edwards all guest on this lost California-rock gem produced by Young's longtime associate David Briggs.
Fairport Convention, Vashti Bunyan, Bill Fay Featured On New Underground Folk Box "Dust on the Nettles"
In the spirit of past box sets such as Love, Poetry and Revolution which spotlighted the British underground psychedelic scene circa 1966-1972, Cherry Red's Grapefruit label has just released Dust on the Nettles, a new 3-CD compendium of British underground folk in roughly the same time period (1967-1972). This new mini-box set, subtitled A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene, boasts 63 tracks and a running time of nearly four hours. The emphasis is on the genre sometimes
Release Round-Up: Week of June 30
Welcome to our final Tuesday Release Round-Up - and it's a doozy! As many of you know, the record industry will next week adopt a universal Friday release day. No releases are scheduled for Tuesday, July 7; instead, Friday, July 10 is the date! DVDs and Blu-rays will, for the foreseeable future, remain released on Tuesdays. We'll resume with a new Release Round-Up on Friday, July 10! Ronny and the Daytonas, The Complete Recordings (2-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / The
Remember When The Music: Bottom Line Presents Unheard Harry Chapin, Reissues Janis Ian and More
The new Bottom Line Archive Series, which launched earlier this year with volumes from The Brecker Brothers, Willie Nile, and Kenny Rankin, continues on June 30 with a new wave of titles all recorded at the late, great New York venue once located on West 4th Street in Greenwich Village. Concerts from Harry Chapin and Janis Ian, plus two various-artists compilations, will be released on Bottom Line Records on that date. Legendary singer-songwriter Harry Chapin's January 1981 set at The Bottom
Retrospective
Donovan has hand-picked and written the liner notes for the 29 tracks on Salvo's new 2-CD anthology. Alongside his familiar hits, the collection also premieres one new track, "One English Summer."
The Bad Seeds: "Nick Cave Heard Them Here First" Features Dylan, Cash, Pitney, More
Ace Records has an unusual name on its roster: that of Australian musical iconoclast Nick Cave. An artist who's lived up to his description as rock's "Prince of Darkness," Cave has nonetheless drawn on a wide array of influences in crafting his own intense, personal and powerful songbook. Ace has rounded up the original versions of 25 songs recorded over the years by the artist on the collection entitled Nick Cave Heard Them Here First. This anthology follows the label's similar sets for The
Going to the Country: "Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats" Chronicles Birth of Music City Country-Rock
Two legendary artists headline a new anthology arriving on June 16, 2015 from Legacy Recordings. Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City, a 2-CD, 36-track compilation, serves as an audio companion and soundtrack to the exhibit of the same name currently on display at Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame through December 31, 2016. Like the exhibit, this new release explores the timeless sounds created at the intersection of country, folk and rock in Nashville between, roughly
Storytellers: Raven Anthologizes Jerry Jeff Walker, Bobby Bare
Two American country legends have recently been celebrated by Australia's Raven Records label with new 2-CD, multi-label anthologies - Jerry Jeff Walker ("Mr. Bojangles") and Bobby Bare ("Detroit City"). No Leavin' Texas 1968-82: The Classic Jerry Jeff follows Raven's recent reissue of three of the New York-born troubadour's albums in one package. This 2-CD anthology collects 39 tracks sourced from 15 albums on five different labels (Atco, Vanguard, Decca, MCA and Elektra) originally
Review: Dion, "Recorded Live at the Bitter End August 1971"
Armed with nothing but his guitar and his familiar, reassuring voice, Dion DiMucci took the stage at the Bitter End, in New York’s Greenwich Village, in August 1971. The rock and roll survivor had successfully made the transition from teenaged doo-wopper to folk-rock troubadour, moving from independent Laurie Records to New York major Columbia and back again to Laurie, briefly reuniting with his old group The Belmonts at ABC, too. Then, in 1969, Dion made the shift to the West Coast-based
Release Round-Up: Week of April 7
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Who, The Brunswick Singles 1965-1966 (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Who box up replicas of seven early 7-inch singles plus an eighth with The High Numbers’ “Zoot Suit” b/w “I’m the Face” on this deluxe vinyl box set. Read more here. Herman's Hermits, The 50th Anniversary Anthology (Bear Family) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Bear Family gives the “I’m Into Something Good” and “There’s a Kind of Hush” pop stars the deluxe
Can't Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour
Leonard Cohen offers ten selections - including two songs never previously recorded and a pair of covers - from his recent world tour.
Light As The Breeze: Leonard Cohen Returns With Live Rarities Set
Just a few months after the September 2014 release of Leonard Cohen’s new studio album Popular Problems and subsequent concert release Live in Dublin, the troubadour is back with a new offering drawn (like Live in Dublin) from his Old Ideas World Tour. Whereas Dublin presented an overview of Cohen’s extraordinary career, the upcoming Can’t Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour presents rarities performed during the international trek. The May 12 release from Legacy Recordings features a pair of
English Folk Heroine Bridget St. John's Dandelion Albums and More Collected On New Box Set
Venerated BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel once called Bridget St. John “the best lady singer-songwriter in the country.” So when Peel formed Dandelion Records in 1969, the label’s first signing was St. John; in fact, Peel once commented that “the main reason why we started the label [was] ‘cos nobody else was going to record her stuff.” Cherry Red Records has just reissued all three of St. John’s moody, evocative Dandelion albums (individually released in 2005 on CD) recorded between 1969 and 1972,
Box Set Watch: Hawkwind, Fotheringay, Spooky Tooth Get Deluxe Collected Treatment
Formed in 1969, “space rock” group Hawkwind recorded its debut album in 1970. Forty-five years later, an iteration of the band is still performing, but Parlophone’s U.K. division is turning the clock back with a new box set to celebrate Hawkwind’s earliest years. This Is Your Captain Speaking…Your Captain Is Dead: The Albums and Singles 1970-1974 arrives on March 23 in the U.K. and one week later in the U.S., and brings together the band’s entire United Artists catalogue on 11 CDs in replica
The NOT Column: Anne McCue, "Blue Sky Thinkin'"
We'd like to kick off your weekend with some Frank on Friday, as we welcome back Ted to debut what he's deemed The NOT Column...as in, "NOT a reissue, but NOTeworthy nonetheless!" Today, he looks at the latest release from Australian alt-country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anne McCue, who has tapped into a rich vein of blues, jazz and folk to craft Blue Sky Thinkin'. We have no doubt that the music being created by McCue will one day be reissued and covered by future catalogue
Recorded Live at the Bitter End - August 1971
Omnivore Recordings in the U.S. and Ace Records in the U.K. delivers a stunning, intimate and never-before-released concert performance from Dion recorded at New York's legendary Bitter End in August 1971.
Release Round-Up: Week of February 24
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti various editions (Atlantic/Swan Song) 2-CD Original Album: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3-CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-LP Original Album: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3-LP Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Super Deluxe Edition (3-CD/3-LP): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Digital Download: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Led Zeppelin's classic album turns 40 and gets the remastered treatment with never-before-heard content available in a plethora